Moshidora 05: Oh no, Yuki. This can’t be happening.

Just when the team had finally learned to trust each other. Just when the coach had implemented a revolutionary strategy.

No. Just, no.

Just when everything was coming together, this happens.

Why?

… is what I thought when I first saw those scenes.

Fortunately, Yuki remains alive and well, if as fragile as before.

"The reports of my death are greatly exaggerated."

Okay, for all those who haven’t yet watched this episode and decided to spoiler yourselves, I apologize. For all those who watched the episode already and knew I was joshing, no apology for you.

But yes, it certainly didn’t help that I was watching this episode with defrayal and archyver, and that at those scenes defrayal immediately proclaimed that Yuki had died and that he had gotten this from the light novel.

And I believed him, because this is exactly the kind of thing that a writer likes to throw about in a zero-to-hero story such as Moshidora: a moment of despair right as the the protagonists finally reach a breakthrough, ensuring that any future successes will be tempered by sadness. The usual emotional complexity routine.

Minami's trollface is fiendishly cute.

In a nutshell: I got trolled, and I wanted to troll others back. So there.

I can't take the word 'bunt' seriously.

This episode continues on the theme of ‘Innovation’, with the coach sending the high school team against a college team to test the viability of their new strategy.

I’m not going to bother explaining the terminology since you can read it up online if you want, but the essence of the no-bunt-no-ball strategy is this: the best defense is a good offense. If you can stop the other side from scoring, all you need is one luck-given point and you win.

Of course, in real life, this is highly impractical – the best defense will not be foolproof, and there is only so much punishment the players can take being when playing such a demanding defensive game; and a strong offense will permit your team to play a less taxing defense, which would be beneficial for long games.

It worked. Sort of.

The end score was 2-34. It would have been worse, but apparently there’s a mercy rule in baseball that reduces the amount of humiliation an over-matched team has to endure.

I’m not convinced that this defensive strategy is going to work, but then again, this is anime. We all know they’re going to reach the Nationals, Minami gets over her hatred of baseball, and Yuki will be discharged from hospital to be with her team in the finals to provide a last-minute morale boost.

So I guess I should simple be happy that the plan is at least theoretically sound.

This episode's humour is brought to you by Unnamed Catcher and Asano.

Here’s a little context: the catcher can also be referred to as the Uke.

I love how he says it with a straight face.

“Give me your pitches. Give them to me hard and strong.”

And here’s a little more fanservice.

Yuki is beautiful, as always. But art-shift Minami is adorable.

I can’t decide whether I want to glomp Minami or CG scene her hot body senseless.